Totally Smurfy

Lord knows I don't really need any more cosmetics, but I couldn't help myself. I had to order a couple items from this collection (eyeshadow and lip gloss). I adored The Smurfs as a child. I would wake up early to watch it, despite the fact I am not a morning person at all. A girlfight actually broke out at my 8th birthday party over who got to read a little Smurf booklet that had come with a Smurf t-shirt I had received as a gift. And now that we have the Boomerang network I have recorded an episode here and there. I can't wait until my smurfment arrives!

Cooking Cajun Style

October 25, 2008

We opted for sleep in lieu of breakfast this morning. We had to be at the New Orleans School of Cooking by 9:45am, which is a little too early to be functioning for a weekend.

We had signed up for a two-hour cooking demo, during which we would watch our lunch being made. Our instructor, Miss Pat, reminded us a bit of Paula Deen. She had several of the dishes partially prepped before class started and had a nifty mirror so we could see every step. While she cooked she gave us an overview of the culinary history of New Orleans. We started with a chicken and andouille gumbo. I told Eddie to pay close attention, since he had been having a cup of it at every meal. If there is anything he should learn to cook, this should be it. I was pleasantly suprised to learn that it is not as complicated as I thought it would be to make. Apart from all the onion and bell pepper chopping, the trickiest part seems to be making the roux. I've made a roux for mac n'cheese before, so I think I could handle this.

Next up was a cajun style jambalaya. The cajun style differs from the creole style in that the creole version utilizes a tomato-based sauce for moisture. This preparation used chicken stock. My parents gave this one two thumbs up. Eddie preferred the creole style. I was Switzerland.

We learned how to make bread pudding for dessert. Miss Pat decided to get creative and made a pina colada bread pudding. I was skeptical while watching her pour in the pina colada mix, canned pineapple and shredded coconut, but this was actually quite tasty. The pineapple and coconut flavors turned out to be much more subtle than I anticipated. We also learned how to make pralines. I suspect my neighbors will be receiving some of those for the holidays.

Everything tastes better with a local brew in hand.

After our lesson, with recipes safely tucked away in my purse, we hopped on one of the trolleys for a ride around the city. The original plan was to ride along the Riverfront, but due to the Voodoo Experience several trolleys were being rerouted. We ended up taking the St. Charles trolley out into the Garden District.

I probably should have tried to take some pictures of the homes, but (a) it was crowded, (b) I didn't have a window seat and (c) I was zoning out. I did manage to catch this odd billboard as we came around a corner. It says simply "EDDIE". No one seems to know why. Someone's head expanded a bit after seeing it.

We transferred trolleys and hit up the shops and stands at the French Market for souvenir shopping. A lot of the merchandise was repetitive and somewhat tacky. After finally finding some kiddie t-shirts for the grandkids and godkids and a faux Venetian mask for myself, we headed back to the hotel.

My parents headed up for a nap, but we stopped in the lobby since I finally spied empty seats at the Carousel Bar. The main attraction is obviously the slow, rotating bar but the rest of the interior was to my liking as well: a dark, sparkly ceiling, oversized booths and a grand piano. It was difficult to get a good picture without flash; New Orleans really seems to like its dark and mysterious spaces.

The drink you are supposed to have at the Carousel Bar is a sazerac. However, I chose to have a sidecar in honor of FogCityDweller (it's her favorite). I think she would have been pleased with the quality. The sidecar actually ended up being a conversation starter with the two couples seated next to us, since neither had heard of the drink before.

Post-cocktail we went upstairs to get ready for dinner at a place owned by this dude named Emeril. I think he has a show on tv or something.

I have to admit, Emeril's was not my first choice for our dinner. But what the birthday boy wants, he gets. And my parents watch Emeril's show often. I started off the evening with doubts based on a bad experience I had at another one of his restaurants. Fortunately my doubts were laid to rest. Our table had a view into the open kitchen; if I were to go back I'd love to sit at the counter.
We shared the Barbeque Shrimp with Petite Rosemary Biscuit and Fresh Chives as an appetizer. We scarfed all of them down before I could take a picture. :-) Instead of the standard loaf of french bread that we encountered at most restaurants, the waiters at Emeril's brought around miniature sized brioche buns, french bread loaves & corn muffins. I ordered the special salad of the evening: Warm Duck Confit with mixed greens, pecans, blue cheese and satsuma vinaigrette. I'm usually not a fan of mixing sweet with savory, but this was wonderful.
For my entree I departed from my usual choice of seafood and instead had the Pan Seared Filet of Beef with Creamy Mascarpone Polenta, Slow Roasted Pork Belly, Wilted Swiss Chard, Tomato Confit and Goat Cheese. This.was.SO.good. I was the last one to finish dinner because everyone else claimed they were too full to finish their entrees. Wimps. I ate every single perfect bite of this deliciousness.
The perfect ending was a light tasting Vanilla Bean Crème Brûlée with Seasonal Fruit and Shortbread. The only issue with this was that the seasonal fruit consisted of a strawberry, blackberry and raspberry, all of which are not in season. They were tasty though, not bland and watery like most out of season fruit, so I'm left wondering where Emeril's secret berry hook-up is.
After dropping my parents off at the hotel, Eddie and I took a leisurely stroll down Royal St., pausing to admire the window displays at all the art galleries. I even found a jewelry store still open and walked away with another souvenir. We headed up to Bourbon St., to see all the craziness one last time. Suprisingly, it seemed rather quiet in comparison to the previous night even though it was still bustling with pre-Halloween revelers. It was just fine with me.

Mo' eating, Mo' shopping

The past weekend was definitely not health & fitness oriented. After our lunch feast at Pizzeria Mozza, Valerie and I had lunch the following day at Maggiano's. We shared a 1/2 order of the chopped salad followed by a 1/2 order of the baked ziti with sausage.

What's the best way to work off a meal? Walking around South Coast Plaza. After the work-related events of the past month, I was ready for some retail therapy. The first thing that called to me was this Marc Jacobs tote:
Another Marc Jacobs bag called out to me as well:
Ultimately, however, it is this Botkier hobo that still occupies my thoughts three days later. It's a bag that never would have caught my eye online or probably even in print. But when I placed over my shoulder at Saks, it felt like it belonged to me. As much as I love handbags I rarely ever buy one on first sight; I need to mull it over a little bit. I think I'll be ordering this one by week's end.

After we had shopped and browsed to our heart's content, I suggested a visit to Sprinkles. I am truly jealous of people that live within a short driving distance of a Sprinkles location. My flavor selections are limited to the weekend varieties, yet there are several other flavors I want to try. I may have to strategically play hooky sometime in the future. On this visit I picked up carrot cake, chocolate marshmallow and key lime cupcakes:

Jack got cupcakes too!
After a cup of coffee and watching some interesting OC stereotypes at the Corona del Mar Plaza, it was time to drop Valerie off at the hotel where her conference was being held. It was a fun weekend, but far too short.

It's Just All Too Much

Too much boobs, too much stomach, too much thighs, too much chub in the cheeks. Le sigh. I do not want to look like this in our vacation photos eleven weeks from now. So it's back to calorie counting in conjunction with Intuitive Eating for me. And it's definitely time to step up the frequency of workouts. This isn't going to turn into a health and fitness blog by any means, but I think this post and the follow up post eleven weeks from now will keep me accountable. As will the little text box on the sidebar if you are interested in my weekly progress on the scale and at the gym.

Off-topic Note: This is the DVF dress I scored at Clothes Heaven a few weeks ago. Clothes Heaven must have some angelic mirrors because it looked so much more flattering in the store. I still love the dress even though it's a pretty big departure from what I usually gravitate towards. Generally I prefer solids over patterns and I never wear yellow. Ever. Hopefully in eleven weeks it will look like it did in those heavenly mirrors.

You Can Take a Girl Out of the City ...

... but you can't take the city out of a girl. That is the reason why I headed westward to civilization (Pasadena) today, while Eddie delved deeper into BFE territory (Hemet). Some couples need to spend all their free time together. We are not one of those couples. It works out well. Plus I really enjoy my little day trips outside of the Inland Empire. And when I'm happy, Eddie's happy. It's a win-win situation.

I started off my day (sans camera - booo!) at Dashing Diva nail salon. I knew that I was one of the first appointments of the morning, but damn it was quiet when I walked in. It felt a bit unnerving. The receptionist didn't help matters; she was not at all friendly or welcoming. Why do people like that end up in hospitality oriented positions? Things rapidly improved however, when my technician showed me to my seat. I was escorted into the VIP area! I don't know how or why that happened, but I felt quite spoiled as I gazed out upon the masses from my comfortable chair behind the fringed curtain. I got to enjoy the privacy of the back area, as well as my own tv, for the duration of my mani/pedi. What I didn't enjoy though were the strange co-irker dynamics going on between the lovely ladies attending to me and the aforementioned unfriendly receptionist. They clearly had some sort of issues going on based upon the dirty looks the receptionist gave to the technicians and the resulting rapid fire conversation between the two technicians in their native language. Some things need no translation though, such as the look that one of the technicians gave me that clearly said, "Receptionist Girl is a beeyotch." I nodded my head sympathetically.

After leaving the nail salon, I headed over to Salon Sessions for a much needed trim. Eddie always teases me that the only reason I go to there is because of the number of times either the salon or its owner has popped up on shows we watch such as America's Next Top Model, Shear Genius and Flavor of Love Girls' Charm School. What he always seems to forget is that I had been going to the salon since it first opened, before it appeared on any of those shows. I had followed my stylist Ruth to the salon after she left her previous employer. Seeing Ruth now requires an extra 30 minutes of driving and 30 extra dollars, but she is well worth every penny. I trust her skill so much that earlier this year I sat down in her chair and told her to do whatever she wanted with regard to cut and color. The result was a haircut and style that received far more compliments that anything I had asked for in the past. I loved it so much that I've maintained the cut ever since. There are supposed to be a lot of layers and texture, but my hair had grown out so much that the style was looking pretty muddled. Forty minutes later however, I had my style back. yay!

All that pampering made me hungry (it's so hard being waited on hand and foot), so I headed over to The Crepevine Bistro. I had walked by this place for years, but never went in and actually tried it until I read Weezermonkey's review of the place. Last time I ordered the duck confit crepe. I ate every single bite and washed it down with an excellent glass of albarino. This time I ordered a steak and cheese crepe, which is technically not on the crepe menu. It was on the flatbread menu, but the server said they could easily make it as a crepe instead. I ate every single bite and washed it down with a delicious pomegranate champagne cocktail. I've never been able to leave enough room for a sweet crepe at The Crepevine yet, but I always leave with a happy tummy (and slightly buzzed).

While I was at The Crepevine, I surreptitiously observed the family seated practically right in front of me. Their dynamics and conversation entertained me while I ate. I know it's considered "bad" to eavesdrop, but sometimes it's inevitable in such close quarters. The group consisted of an engaged couple, the fiancee's mom and the fiancee's grandparents. Amusing Item #1: When the fiance gave his fiancee a bit of crap about the Nutella and banana crepe she had just scarfed down as she is supposedly on a diet, fiancee responded with, "But it's all fat free. Nutella is made from cocoa and cocoa doesn't have any fat." Umm, according to the Nutella jar in my cabinet, one serving of just Nutella has 190 calories, 100 of which are fat calories. There's apparently more than just cocoa in the jar. There's also apparently a reason why this woman's diet isn't working as well as she'd like. And aside from all that, I was amazed that the woman didn't slap her fiance upside the head for his comment. She was very calm about it. I guess it happens often? All I know is that a comment like that would so not fly in our household. Amusing Item #2: When their bill arrived, the fiance immediately started crowing about how his item didn't cost very much and he was only going to put in X amount. (cue visions of many MM debates) That was followed up by much confusion about how much his future in-laws each owed. Then his fiancee started harping about other money he owed her from the day prior. Now I know everyone handles their money in whatever ways that work for them and that it's not uncommon for there to be much confusion about bill splitting, but I have never seen it happen among such immediate family members. I could never imagine quibbling with my parents, grandparents or in-laws about whether they owed another $2. If there's ever any argument over the restaurant bill when we dine with family, the disagreement is about who gets to pick up the entire check. Not about who ordered the iced tea when everyone else ordered water. It was odd, yet entertaining to me. I felt kind of bad for the grandparents though. They seemed like such a sweet old couple; I couldn't believe that neither their child nor their grandchild wanted to treat them. I hope my future kids love me enough to buy me a crepe in my old age.

In order to let my buzz wear off a bit before driving home, I started browsing the usual shops on Colorado Blvd. Then I headed up to Union St. to Clothes Heaven, which is a resale boutique that had been mentioned in one of Diabolina's blogposts. I wasn't expecting to find or buy anything; I just wanted to check it out. Famous last words. The salesladies were incredibly friendly and helpful. Too helpful. Once they saw the first dress in my hands they pointed out all the similar styles they had available as well as other pieces from the same consignor. I walked out with a never-worn, tags attached Diane von Furstenberg wrap dress. Original price = $285. I bought it for $139. Score! I've done a lot of shopping this week; there will be a post shortly with pictures of every bullet that has hit my wallet the past three days.

So how on earth can one top a day of pampering, eating and shopping? With a cupcake of course! My last stop before heading home was Dots, to pick up a couple Hostess and Red Velvet cupcakes. I also picked up a mini Strawberry cupcake to tide me over during the drive and prevent any temptation to tear the box open while on the 210. The cupcakes made it home safely, as did I.